Daughter of Smoke and Bone

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Author: Laini Taylor
ISBN: 978-1-444-72263-5
RRP: $24.99

As soon as Daughter of Smoke and Bone arrived on my to read pile I fell in love, the cover art drew me in and I knew I needed to make my way to this one as quick as I could. I’m glad that I did, I really enjoyed the read until I came across those three dreaded words, the three words I never want to see in a book. To Be Continued – now to add another book to the must make sure I get my hands on as soon as it is released.

Daughter of Smoke and Bone is the first part of a trilogy focusing on Karou, the blue haired beauty going to art school in a very gothic Prague.

Laini Taylor has weaved the modern world, technology and society with the threads of her paranormal storylines so seamlessely that I would get so caught up in the moment and have a dark, early century Prague in my head until someone tweeted or texted, then I was right back here again. Her world building is such that if you find it more difficult to suspend disbelief you will be able to immerse yourself in the everyday world aspects and connect there, but if you like your fantasy totally out there in another world you can lose yourself Elsewhere.

Karou has an ordinary life as an art student with an arrogant actor ex-boyfriend and best friend but this life hides a secret life as errand girl for Brimstone. Errands that take her all over the world through portals between Earth and Elsewhere.

The book begins firmly entrenched in the present with Karou leading her two very separate lives, connected only by the sketchbooks that tell the story of both her lives. The chimaera get a glimpse of all of the mundane aspects of her life and her friends and classmates are allowed to see the chimaera in the sketcbook, putting all they see down to Karou’s active imagination.

Back-story is meted out slowly in the first half and we learn of Karou’s past in pieces and sketchy information of Elsewhere, because that’s all Karou knows. We share the journey as she discovers her own story.

The puzzle comes clear with a snap and we switch to the past, learning what lead Karou to this moment and made her whole – but at what cost?

daughter of smoke and bone

We learn that there is more to the story than Karou, her ordinary life and the chimaera. There are also the seraph, angels of great beauty and fire and the rest of Elsewhere – beyond Brimstone’s workshop.

The pieces come nicely together but the loose ends are far from tied up and the story is far from over.

I was involved and in thrall to Laini and her tale, itching to turn the page and see what happens next and then I came to the three most feared words in the book lovers repertoire… To Be Continued…..

When? Soon? PLEASE!

A young adult tale of love, war, Elsewhere and otherness that has Karou always feeling adrift from her life, never quite finding home and not understanding why. Can she bring all the pieces of herself back together and find lasting happiness? I hope so but more than that I can’t wait to find out!

Laini Taylor, thank you for writing this book that adds a new aspect to many of the creatures that have lived in fantasy literature over the years, for making them your own and doing it in a way that tied in with our world so well.

I can’t wait to see what will happen in the 2nd book of the trilogy.

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